Culture Shock
When I messaged my friends the picture above, almost all of
them were shocked and disgusted by the bizarre sight. This is a perfect example
of culture shock, the feeling one gets when they witness something that
is strange to the culture that they are familiar with.
Chinese on American Culture
A way to prevent culture shock is to have cultural relativism, the understanding that all cultures are relatively different than each other and that no culture is considered normal. With this perspective, one will not judge the Chinese for eating dogs because they will know it is abnormal from their point of view. For example, I asked a few of my Chinese friends if the Chinese find American foods taboo. Apparently, cheese is often seen as unclean because it contains live bacteria that are used to curdle milk into a thick substance. And the flavors of cheese are controlled by the amount and type of bacteria thrown in the milk. With this strange fact in mind, I understand what it truly means to possess cultural relativism. There is no universal definition for "normal".
Religious Taboos
Eating cows is considered a taboo for many Hindus in India. In the holy scriptures of Hinduism, there is condemnation of consuming the flesh of cows because they are praised for providing milk to humans. Growing up, I was raised as a vegetarian because my parents believed in the Hindu principle of Ahimsa, which means nonviolence in Sanskrit. This nonviolence is directed toward all animals and I've internalized this idea. It used to be hard for me to grasp why Americans killed cows just as my friend called killing dogs in China an "abomination". But I've come to realize that differences across various cultures are inevitable.
Interesting Fact: The Chow Chow breed of canine was originally bred for consumption in ancient Asian civilizations, as well as the abundance of fur which was used for other reasons. The name may also have been related to the animal's purpose, as "chow" can be referred to as food. This dog is more commonly a pet rather than food in current American society.
No comments:
Post a Comment